


Making The Rules

by perductus



Series: Togafuka Week 2014 [5]
Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: F/M, Implied Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-10-05
Packaged: 2018-02-19 23:58:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2407643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perductus/pseuds/perductus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Monokuma starts adding new rules that imply some of the students are partaking in scandalous activities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making The Rules

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off this post: http://danganronpaimagines.tumblr.com/post/56820349730/nsfw-togafuka-imagine-monobear-adding-new

‘Alright, listen up students!’ Monokuma waddled to and fro across the gymnasium stage, stumpy arms on hips.

Fifteen students stared back.

Makoto Naegi glanced around at the faces of his classmates, which bore varying degrees of boredom, apprehension and annoyance.

‘This morning, I’m going to add a new rule to the handbook,’ Monokuma came to a standstill in the centre of the stage.

A slight murmur broke out amongst the students.

‘Due to some…’ The bear cleared his throat. ‘…Unsightly goings on that some of you have been partaking in, I am adding this rule; “Students must be fully dressed in all areas of the school, except for the specified changing areas stated in your guidebooks”.’

Immediately, the entire room erupted, and Makoto completely understood why. A rule that enforced students to be fully clothed at all times? What could possibly have provoked that? Maybe someone decided to go on a streaking mission at some point during the night? Makoto wouldn’t put it past someone like Yasuhiro or Leon. Unless…

‘What the hell kinda rule is that?’ Mondo Oowada loudly stated, cutting across the students’ whispers.

‘Yeah,’ Leon chimed in. ‘What caused that?’

Clambering up onto the podium, Monokuma chuckled. ‘Upupupu… Wouldn’t  _you_ like to know…’ He began to rub his arms up and down his body, shimmying in a very un-bearlike way. ‘Ooooh~! To see the things I’ve seen, Kuwata-kun…!’

Leon’s brow furrowed. ‘Wait, does that mean people have been—‘

‘It’s up to you guys to decide!’ Monokuma cut across him and, before Leon could open his mouth again, vanished, leaving a bunch of very confused teenagers standing in the gym.

Leon spun round to face his classmates. ‘So according to the bear, some people here have been doing the nasty?!’

A cacophony of snickers and muttering.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru stepped forward, face flushed. ‘If Kuwata-kun is right, then I am very disappointed. This is an environment for learning! For enrichment! Not for animalistic rutting!’

‘Monokuma never actually stated that the offence for which the rule was put in place was a sexual one,’ Celestia raised a finger. ‘Perhaps someone among us has nudist tendencies?’

‘Well sure, but I’ve never done that here!’ Yasuhiro scratched the back of his head. The entire room stared at him. ‘What?’

‘I don’t see what you’re all making a fuss about,’ Byakuya turned his back on the group and began walking towards the exit of the gym. ‘As long as no one breaks that rule, it isn’t any of our concern.’ He paused at the door. ‘I personally would rather stick pins in my eyes than learn the details of any of your private lives.’

With that scathing remark, he vanished.

‘I a-agree with Togami-kun!’ Touko piped up. ‘You’re all f-filthy animals, the lot of you…’ Makoto watched as she scuttled away after Byakuya.

‘Clearly it wasn’t either of those two,’ Leon snickered. ‘That attitude suggests jealousy. Plus, they’re both so tight assed that no one in their right mind would want to screw ‘em!’

Kiyotaka bristled. ‘Kuwata-kun! I request that you refrain from making such lewd comments about your classmates!’

‘What? It’s true…’

Kyouko cleared her throat. ‘Regardless, I think Togami-kun’s right. This kind of petty rule doesn’t really affect us as long as we don’t break it, so why don’t we just ignore it?’

Nobody had anything to rebuff Kyouko, so all began to disperse back to their rooms, muttering amongst themselves.

\--- 

Makoto was on his way back to his room when he was intercepted in the hallway. Someone grabbed the back of Makoto’s hoodie and yanked him round the corner, away from the open space of the hall.

‘Ow!’ Makoto wrenched his hoodie free from his attackers grip and turned on them, scowling. It turned out to be Leon.

Pausing to check his surroundings, Leon lowered his voice, ‘Sorry for grabbing you like that, dude, but I gotta know…’ Another glance around. ‘Was it you?’

‘Was what me?’

‘The rule!’ Leon hissed.

Makoto’s brow furrowed. Leon seemed to have really made it his business to know the backstory of the fully clothed rule.

‘No, it wasn’t me,’ said Makoto, shaking his head. ‘Was it you?’

‘No! I mean, uh,’ Leon looked away, scratching the back of his head. When he looked back his lips were pouted. ‘…it  _might_ have been! Y’know, since the chicks really dig the punk rock vibe I got goin’ here—‘

A laugh threatened to escape Makoto’s lips. ‘If it really was you, Kuwata-kun, why would you be asking me?’

Fear flashed across Leon’s face before he puffed up his chest and crossed his arms. ‘Well, maybe I’m just trying to  _hide_ the fact the fact that I’m getting  _all_ the cute girls around here by pretending I’m not…!’

Before Makoto could respond, Leon skirted around him and marched back towards the dormitories.

Well, it clearly wasn’t Leon. Walking back to his own room, Makoto pondered who it could have been, if it had in fact been anyone at all and not just Monokuma stirring up tension for the hell of it.

If that wasn’t the case though… Leon was probably right about Byakuya and Touko. They barely spent anytime with the rest of the class at all, and when they did they were mostly rude and standoffish.

Others that it would be less likely to consider included Hifumi, whose self-proclaimed love for 2D girls seemed to rule him out, and Kiyotaka, who was far too proper and rule abiding to do anything more than hold hands with someone.

Makoto’s stomach flipped when the thought crossed his mind that Sayaka might have had anything to do with it. His mind conjured an image of Sayaka, wandering the halls of the school… her silky sapphire hair flowing down her naked, porcelain back…

A sharp shake of his head dispelled the vision, the more mature and sensible side of his brain scolding him fervently.

He unlocked his dorm and stepped inside. Like Kyouko and Byakuya said, did the new rule really matter? As long as it didn’t lead to anything dangerous no one would ever really need to know.

Flopping backwards onto the bed, Makoto pulled his student guidebook out of his pocket and examined it. He tapped through to the page containing the new rule.

_“Students must be fully clothed in all areas of the school at all times. Nightwear is permitted in the dormitories. Nudity is only permitted in dormitory bathrooms and the swimming pool and bath changing rooms.”_

A slight chuckle escaped him as he let the handbook drop onto the bed beside him. Who’d have thought that he’d ever read a rule like that?

\--- 

Over the next few days, the hot topic of conversation remained the new school rule. Though it was Leon who cared the most, Makoto overheard Sakura and Aoi talking about it on their way to the pool, as well as Yasuhiro and Junko gossiping about it in the A/V room.

Evidently still trying to pretend that it was he who scored, Leon took to swaggering around the corridors with a smirk that rivaled Byakuya’s. Unfortunately, due to his behavior immediately following Monokuma’s announcement, combined with the fact that Sayaka loudly testified to the entire class during breakfast that  _no, she wasn’t Leon’s booty call_ , absolutely nobody in the class believed for a second that it was Leon Kuwata who was the cause of the new rule.

Despite this, nobody had a clue who it  _actually_  might have been. Some believed that Junko had something to do with it, but she protested loudly that though she looked like that type of girl, it was not her doing. Others believed that Kiyotaka and Mondo had been spending too much time in the sauna together, which was met with spluttering outrage from Kiyotaka and raucous laughter from Mondo. One person believed the cause was the ghost of a former student wandering the halls naked after having their PE kit stolen, but no one was inclined to take Yasuhiro seriously. Though some believed it to have been him and his self-proclaimed nudist tendencies.

It was quite a relief to have something to talk about other than their immediate imprisonment, if Makoto was going to be completely honest. The atmosphere at breakfast was almost cheerful these days (except for the day when Leon’s bragging went too far and Sayaka slapped him across the face, storming out, flanked by Aoi and Sakura who shot looks of daggers at the offending boy – but even that particular event was hilarious to most, having suffered Leon following them round asking if they’d been up to anything “interesting” lately).

Eventually, the talk began to subside and the rule was almost forgotten - until Monokuma called them all to the gym again, five days later.

\---

‘You guys keep me young, you know that, right?’ Monokuma crooned, sitting atop his podium.

The students stared back. Makoto cast a glance at Leon, who seemed to be suppressing a grin. Behind him, Byakuya stood with arms folded and a slight frown, eyes intently fixed on Monokuma.

‘All these goings on while you think my back is turned? Oooooh~! It keeps me on my feet!’ He cackled. ‘Well, surprise, surprise, but I do in fact see everything that goes on around this school… and yes, that includes the dormitories.’

A murmur swept across the room.

‘So I’m adding another rule—‘

‘Called it!’ Leon fist-pumped.

Ignoring Leon, Monokuma cleared his throat. ‘”Students are not permitted to visit each other’s dormitories at ANY time”.’

Byakuya spoke before anyone else. ‘Why do you keep adding petty rules like that? You said you didn’t care what happens in the dormitories.’

Monokuma hopped down from his podium and stood at the very front of the stage, arms folded. ‘Well, Mr Togami, this is  _supposed_  to be a school, as Mr Ishimaru so kindly pointed out the last time I called you all here. Would you like to remind Mr Togami what a school is for, Ishimaru-kun?’

Standing to attention, Kiyotaka addressed Byakuya. ‘A school is for learning and enrichment!’

‘That’s right!’ Monokuma said, his plush features twisting into a grin, made more horrifying by the elongated mouth on the right side of his face. ‘So we can’t be having hanky-panky in the dormitories, now can we?’ And with that, he vanished.

‘That settles it!’ Leon crowed. ‘Two people in this room have  _definitely_ been scoring!’

‘Or three,’ Hifumi piped up. ‘There could be three of them!’

‘I daresay that doesn’t include you, Yamada-kun,’ said Celestia, raising one eyebrow.

Makoto tried to stifle a smirk, while Leon and Yasuhiro ooh’d.

Hifumi lifted his chin. ‘I suspect you meant that as an insult, Celestia Ludenburg-dono, but you forget – I only wish to score with those of the 2D world!’

‘Good luck scoring with your anime body pillow, dude!’ Leon guffawed.

Hifumi and Leon soon became occupied in a heated debate about 2D versus 3D, during which everyone else decided to vacate the gym.

\---

Later that evening, Makoto left his room for the warehouse to pick up a couple of snacks just before Monokuma’s nighttime announcement. During the night he often got hungry but didn’t want to leave his room in the early hours, so the obvious answer was to have a few snack bars stored in his room for such an occasion.

Upon entering the warehouse, he found he was not the only one with the view to stocking up for the night. Touko Fukawa stood at the back, rummaging through boxes and muttering to herself.

‘Good evening, Fukawa-san!’ said Makoto, raising his hand in a half wave.

Touko spun round, clutching a box of bandages to her chest. ‘N-Naegi! What are y-you doing here?!’

An odd question to be asking in a warehouse meant for public use. ‘I’m just picking up some snacks,’ he explained.

Touko continued to stare at him, her eyes flicking from him to the door and back again.

Faltering, Makoto opened his mouth. ‘Are you okay, Fukawa-san?’

The answer was accompanied by a poisonous glare. ‘I’m f-fine!’ She turned her back on him, returning the box her in hands to the shelf. She continued to mumble under her breath, and though Makoto couldn’t catch half of it, he caught his own name.

_Ding, dong, ding, dong!_

Both students jumped as the familiar signal of a Monokuma announcement sounded through the speakers. As usual, the nighttime announcement followed.

Makoto picked his way through the boxes scattered across the floor and retrieved a small box of snack bars. ‘It’s late, we’d better get going,’ he advised.

Touko ignored him, still clattering around with various boxes. Looking closer, Makoto couldn’t tell whether she was taking anything – she just seemed to be picking them up and putting them back down again, all the time muttering under her breath. He’d never really understood Touko and was starting to think he never would.

‘…night, Fukawa-san,’ Makoto turned to leave but realised a figure blocked the exit.

‘What are you doing here, Naegi?’

How strange. Byakuya Togami asked exactly the same question as Touko. Makoto’s confusion grew, glancing at Touko then Byakuya who stood in the doorway, arms folded in his usual hostile stance.

‘I was, uh, just getting some snacks,’ he raised the box in his hand as form of explanation.

Byakuya’s eyes narrowed. ‘It’s past nighttime, shouldn’t you be in your dormitory?’

Makoto bristled. ‘Shouldn’t you?’

A small gasp escaped Touko. Byakuya merely smirked.

‘Leave the sass to someone who has a talent for it,’ he sneered. ‘I merely came to find a replacement bulb for the desk-lamp in the library. The cheap lights they use here barely last the duration of a Dickens novel.’

Byakuya swept past Makoto, and towards the back of the store. Touko shrunk away, bundling herself into the corner of two shelves.

A moment passed before Byakuya stopped scanning the shelves and glared at the other two occupants of the warehouse. ‘What are you both still here for? You’ve got your box of food, Naegi, and I don’t know what you’re doing Fukawa, but it probably isn’t useful.’

Touko squeaked and scurried to the door.

Byakuya turned back to the shelves and retrieved a small box. ‘In case either of you decide to go on a nighttime wander, do not bother going to the library, for I intend to spend the rest of the evening there reading.’ He strode towards the exit, Touko leaping out of the way and Makoto nearly being knocked into a pile of soda crates as Byakuya left and disappeared around the corner.

Silence, before Touko mumbled something indistinct and promptly vanished after Byakuya.

Makoto didn’t immediately follow her. Something puzzled him about the encounter he’d just experienced but couldn’t put a finger on what it might be.

He began to wander back to his room, snack box in hand. One of the oddities was that Touko left the warehouse with nothing. Though, judging by her behavior with the boxes, she hadn’t actually been there with the purpose of retrieving anything at all. That was odd, even by Touko’s standards. She usually didn’t leave her room except for specific reasons such as meals or announcements. Even then, she was frequently absent from breakfast.

Shrugging away the thoughts, Makoto entered his room and dumped the box on his desk. He began getting ready for bed, taking care only to undress in the bathroom.

Before sleep claimed him, he briefly wondered why he hadn’t heard the sound of Touko’s dormitory door shutting.

\--- 

For the third time in two weeks, Makoto and his classmates stood before an increasingly huffy Monokuma.

‘I gotta admit - you bastards are goddamn persistent!’ The self-proclaimed headmaster gritted his teeth. ‘This will be the third rule this month!’

Makoto didn’t think he’d seen someone look so incredulous as Leon Kuwata did at that moment. ‘You’re kidding me? Again?!’

Someone snickered. That someone turned out to be Touko. ‘S-Sounds like someone’s j-jealous…’

Leon turned on her. ‘Wha-?! I ain’t jealous! No, man, I’m… I wanna congratulate whoever it is, that’s all!’

‘So you admit it’s not you?’ said Kyouko, tilting her head.

‘Well, uh, not exactly – but don’t get the wrong idea!’ Leon laughed, somewhat forcefully. ‘It’s not like I’m getting no action at all…!’

Aoi snorted. ‘Likely story…’

‘Hey!’ Monokuma leapt up onto the podium. The chattering halted. ‘I haven’t even told you guys the new rule yet!’

A hush fell.

‘The new rule is simple: “No activities of a sexual nature are to occur… in the library”.’

Silence.

‘The  _library?!’_ Clearly things were becoming too much for Leon Kuwata. ‘Are you freaking  _kidding me??’_

‘Nope!’ Monokuma shook his head. ‘I have the videotapes to prove it. Now then…’ The bear hopped off the gymnasium stage and onto the floor, where he began to prowl around the group of students. ‘Certain individuals clearly aren’t taking these rules seriously and are becoming quite talented at finding loopholes…’ Monokuma kept pausing beside people, eyeing them with suspicion, which was only for effect, as Monokuma clearly knew who were the guilty parties. ‘I’m quite impressed, actually! Teenagers will be teenagers…’ He returned to the stage. ‘Well, that’s all I had to say.’ A shrug, and he was gone.

‘I honestly thought he was going to tell us who it is that time…’ said Aoi, a hint of disappointment in her voice. ‘I’m really annoyed at whoever it is – one of the new rules means that me and Sakura-chan have to do our wind down massage sessions in the changing rooms, which isn’t nearly as relaxing as the dormitories!’

Yasuhiro turned to face Aoi, scandalized. ‘Massage sessions?! Isn’t that just fancy talk for… you-know-what…?’

It was Aoi’s turn to look scandalized. ‘What are you saying?!’

‘Let’s not argue,’ Kyouko cut in. ‘I think we can all agree that these new rules have put a significant amount of restrictions on us, and if it carries on this way we may not be able to even leave our rooms soon.’ She stroked her chin with a gloved finger. ‘These rules seem to be getting awfully specific. It shouldn’t be too much longer until it’s obvious who the perpetrators are.’

‘If they carry on at all,’ Junko pointed out. ‘They might figure it’s too risky!’

‘I personally think I may already know who these culprits are,’ continued Kyouko. She began to walk towards the door but stopped next to Makoto. ‘And I think you do as well, Naegi-kun.’

She left. Immediately, Makoto was the centre of attention.

‘What did she mean, Naegi-kun?’ Sayaka inquired, her head tilted.

Mondo snickered. ‘Well I know who  _my_ bets are on…’

‘No, no! It’s not like that!’ Makoto shook his head. What  _did_ Kyouko mean?

‘Suuuuuure…’ smirked Leon, arms folded.  

About to respond, Makoto opened his mouth – but words were forgotten as his eyes strayed to Touko, stood a few feet behind Leon. She bore a concerned expression, eyes fixed on Byakuya who pointedly stared at the ceiling.

‘Whatever you say, Naegi,’ Leon shrugged as he walked past Makoto to the exit. ‘I’m going evidence hunting!’

Starting with Leon, the entire class began to file out of the gym. A group consisting of Leon, Yasuhiro, Mondo and Kiyotaka charged off yelling about clues and evidence. Everyone else headed towards the direction of the canteen and Makoto followed, still wondering what Kyouko’s cryptic message meant.

\---

It turned out that Leon’s investigation team soon got bored of tracking down the culprits, and invited Makoto and anyone else who wanted to join them, for a game of pool in the rec room. After Makoto slaughtered Yasuhiro at the first game and then in turn got thoroughly wrecked by Mondo in the second, he decided to call it a night and left to return to his room. 

However, passing through the second floor stalled his progress as a hushed voice called out his name.

‘Naegi-kun!’

Makoto looked around for the source and saw Kyouko lurking outside the door to the library. She beckoned a finger.

Thinking he might receive an explanation for earlier, Makoto gently padded across the hallway to where Kyouko stood.

‘I’m glad I caught you,’ she whispered.

‘What is it?’ Makoto asked but was immediately hushed.

‘The other night, I saw you go into the warehouse and encounter two other people,’ said Kyouko. ‘Who were those people?’

Makoto frowned. ‘Togami-kun and Fukawa-san. How come you saw—’

‘And where did you go after that?’

‘Back to my room… But why does this—‘

Kyouko interrupted. ‘And where did  _they_ go?’

‘Togami-kun said he was going to the library to read, and Fukawa-san went back to her room,’ recalled Makoto.

‘Was that really what happened?’

The longer this hushed conversation went on, the more confused Makoto became. Had Kyouko been spying on him? ‘Yeah, I mean, where else would she have…?’

Wait. Touko left the warehouse with nothing. That was odd enough. But Makoto remembered thinking it was also odd that he never heard the sound of her door close. The dormitory doors were relatively heavy so it would be hard to miss the sound of it closing, and Touko left before Makoto so he definitely would have heard it, as he would have still been in the hallway at the time.

So if she didn’t go to her dormitory…?

_‘In case either of you decide to go on a nighttime wander, do not bother going to the library, for I intend to spend the rest of the evening there…’_

The words Byakuya spoke in the warehouse echoed in his mind. It hadn’t been strange at the time, but thinking about it now… Why would Byakuya bother to tell either of them where he was going? Maybe he was overthinking this.

As if she was mind-reading, Kyouko spoke. ‘What were Togami-kun and Fukawa-san doing in the warehouse?’

‘Togami-kun came to get a replacement bulb for the lamp in the library and Fukawa-san…’ He paused. ‘I have no idea what she was doing.’

A twinkle glinted in Kyouko’s eye and she smiled ever so slightly. ‘What if I told you that there are no bulbs kept in the warehouse?’

‘Huh? You mean Togami-kun lied?’

Kyouko tilted her head, smiling encouragingly.

Byakuya lied, so therefore had no real purpose to be in the warehouse. Touko apparently had no purpose to be in the warehouse either. Which must mean…

‘Wait… They were there to meet each other?’ Makoto’s mouth dropped open.

‘Exactly,’ Kyouko nodded. ‘So it would be obviously to assume that you interrupted them, which is why when I saw Fukawa-san leave, she did not go to her dormitory, rather followed Togami-kun to the library.’

‘How do you know all this?’ All these hints and insights into something he thought only he, Touko, and Byakuya witnessed seemed a little fishy.

She shrugged. ‘I was taking a bath and happened to witness everything from the entrance.’

The cogs in Makoto’s brain were starting to grind faster and faster. ‘So if Fukawa-san went to the library, that must mean—‘

The sound of footsteps approaching from the opposite end of the hall resonated. Makoto almost cried out in surprised as Kyouko grabbed his arm and tugged him into hiding behind a pillar. They peered around, to see Touko, walking swiftly towards the entrance of the library, her shoes clicking against the hallway floor.

‘It seems we are in luck…’ Makoto heard Kyouko whisper under her breath.

They watched, as Touko glanced over her shoulder before opening the library door and slipping inside. As soon as she vanished, Makoto and Kyouko darted over to the door and listened through the gap Touko left in the door.

For a while, they heard nothing, until:

‘…What do you want?’ It was muffled, but unmistakably Byakuya’s voice. ‘I thought you agreed that you were supposed to stay away from me for the next week at least?’

Kyouko raised an eyebrow.

A series of whines. ‘I’m s-sorry, Byakuya-sama…’

‘You’d better have something extremely important to tell me, or are you risking my reputation further for some petty request?’

Makoto glanced at Kyouko, whose eyes were on the floor.

Touko mumbled something, too quiet for the eavesdroppers to hear.

A pause. ‘That’s stupid,’ Byakuya responded. ‘It’s… barely been a day.’

Another pause. Kyouko slowly lifted a finger to her lips, and very slowly pushed the door open a little wider. They now held a very limited view of the interior of the library. It was dimly lit, the only light being the desk light Byakuya claimed was broken.

The desk lamp illuminated Byakuya, sitting at the desk situated at the back of the library, and Touko who stood just in front of his chair. The angle of the light cast Touko into shadow.

They watched, as Touko cautiously extended a hand and touched the lapel of Byakuya’s jacket, running her fingers down the fabric. She didn’t get far before Byakuya gripped her wandering fingers with his own hand, letting the book in his other drop onto the desk.

Makoto watched as Touko slowly leant closer and closer. He expected Byakuya to pull back but he didn’t and soon the pair locked at the lips. Byakuya’s other hand secured Touko’s waist, pulling her onto his lap.

Looking away, Makoto caught Kyouko’s eye. He felt uncomfortable to be watching a scene of such intimacy between his classmates, but Kyouko didn’t seem bothered.

‘Mystery solved,’ she whispered, smirking.

They turned back to the unfolding scene in the library. The kissing ceased; instead just letting their foreheads touch, Touko’s hand playing with locks of Byakuya’s hair. Makoto found he was actually quite touched by this display of affection, even if he understood it zero percent.

Kyouko nudged his arm as if to say  _let’s go before they notice._

Makoto nodded and they tiptoed away from the entrance. Wordlessly, they moved back to the first floor, but paused in the dormitory hallway.

Kyouko turned to Makoto. ‘Let’s not tell the others,’ she said. ‘It wouldn’t be right.’

Makoto hesitated before nodding. Even though Byakuya and Touko’s unlikely relationship caused everyone inconveniences, ratting them out would likely solve nothing. Knowing Monokuma, he wouldn’t lift any of the rules even if they did solve the “mystery”.

And in the end, however rude either of them acted towards Makoto, he considered them friends. And revealing secrets was something that friends didn’t do.

\---

The following week saw no new rules, and gradually discussion of the whole fiasco calmed. Makoto and Kyouko remained true to their word, and didn’t acknowledge what they’d seen in the library to anyone, not even each other.

The matter almost completely left Makoto’s mind, until one evening he encountered Touko in the dormitory hallway.

Clearly in a rush and a pile of books in her hands, Touko managed to collide with Makoto, sending books cascading from her arms and onto the floor.

‘Sorry, Fukawa-san!’ Makoto apologized, bending to help retrieve the books.

‘Y-You should b-be more… careful where you’re g-going…’ Touko reprimanded under her breath, eyes fixed on the fallen books, also kneeling to pick them up.

Makoto gathered up half the pile and looked up to give them back to Touko but paused. Her head bent forward as she picked up the books, braids falling forwards across her face, leaving her neck exposed. Usually Touko’s neck wouldn’t be something that Makoto would stare at, but Touko’s neck usually didn’t bare a dark, circular bruise.

Looking up from the floor, Touko snatched the books from Makoto. He looked away, but not before her eyes widened and she slapped a hand to her neck.

For a moment, they stared at each other.

‘You c-can’t tell anyone,’ Touko whispered, clutching the books in one hand and her neck with the other. ‘B-Byakuya-sama will be angry if I—!’ Book clattered to the floor again as Touko’s hands shot to her mouth. ‘I w-wasn’t supposed to say that…!’

‘It’s ok,’ said Makoto, offering what he hoped was a reassuring smile. ‘I won’t tell anyone.’

He gathered up the books and pressed them into Touko’s arms. Her expression wavered, eyes flicking from the books to Makoto.

‘I promise,’ he smiled. ‘That’s what friends are for, right?’

Touko blushed, averting her eyes to the floor. ‘…thank you.’ 

Both students stood. Touko nodded briskly before pushing past Makoto and scurrying away down the hallway.

He still didn’t understand Touko Fukawa. Or Byakuya Togami, for that matter. But sometimes you don’t always need to completely understand someone to be able to call them a friend. 

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact: this fic has 4 alternate endings, all of which are 1000+ words. 
> 
> Also, though I've posted this for Togafuka week, it doesn't really fill any of the prompts. rip. (unless you try and say that this is "intentional misuse of certain work/school privileges"??)


End file.
